The National Bank of the Kyrgyz Republic is Initiating the Launch of the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Code 

On July 4, 2025, the National Bank of the Kyrgyz Republic held a ceremony to officially launch the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Code. This strategic initiative, developed in partnership with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, aims to increase women’s access to financial services and create conditions for the maximum realization of their economic potential. 

The event was attended by Melis Turgunbaev, the Chairman of the National Bank, Aiten Rustamova, the Regional Head of the EBRD in the Kyrgyz Republic, the Republic of Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan, Sanjar Bolotov, the Deputy Minister of Economy and Commerce of the Kyrgyz Republic, representatives of the banking community, and women entrepreneurs. 

In his welcoming speech, Melis Turgunbaev, the head of the National Bank, noted the macroeconomic significance of the initiative. “Supporting women’s entrepreneurship is not a narrowly specialized issue, but a key component of the national economic strategy. The small and medium-sized business sector, in which women entrepreneurs make a significant contribution, accounts for a large part of our country’s GDP. The launch of the Code, backed by the recent legislative consolidation of the concept of “women’s entrepreneurship”, creates a solid institutional foundation for mobilizing financial sector resources and directing them towards the development of this strategically important segment of the economy,” said M. Turgunbaev. 

The key changes aimed at simplifying women entrepreneurs’ access to loans and stimulating financial institutions to issue them were presented during the event, in particular: 

- expanded opportunities for unsecured lending by increasing the limits for exceptions when calculating requirements for blank loans;  

- requirements for the creation of reserves have been reduced: a rule has been introduced allowing financial institutions to form a reserve to cover potential losses and damages in the amount of 1% on loans issued under programs aimed at developing women’s entrepreneurship/ 

“Our actions are not calls to action, but the creation of working market mechanisms. The National Bank confirms its commitments and creates economically sound conditions under which financing for women entrepreneurs becomes strategically and commercially attractive for the entire banking sector. This is long-term institutional work,” concluded M. Turgunbaev.  

The National Bank will coordinate the activities of the National Coalition on the Code, ensuring the synchronization of efforts of all participants and monitoring progress.  

A key component of the Code’s implementation will be its adoption by organizations participating in the system of collecting and analyzing gender-disaggregated data, which will enable future regulatory and policy decisions to be based on factual data.  

Ten leading financial institutions in the country, including seven commercial banks, two microfinance organizations, and OJSC “Guarantee Fund”, have officially joined the Code.